High explosive and process of making same



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STATES wmmn'n. n. swmr, or WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, ASSIGNOR r0 E. I. no PON'I DE N'EMOUBS die-COMPANY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A QORPORA 0F DELA'WARE' area 'nxrnosrvn AND rnocnss or MAKING sniun.

Io Drawing.

v'ented a certain'new and useful Improye- Explosives and Processes of and do hereby declare that and exact dement in High Same,

sciixiftion'thereof.

, y invention relates production of high exp osives suitable for use in submarine mines, bombs, torpedoes and other appliances of similar nature.

The object of my invention is to provide explosives of the type described in'my coendin application, filed January 31, 1918, erial To. 214,638, entitled Explosives.

In the manufacture of the explosives de-v scribed in the application above referred to,

un cotton of. high nitration was used in a dry state, that is, containing not more than 1% moisture. While explosives made on this basis possess certain desirable and. valuable characteristics, the production is attended with certain inconveniences and risks which it is desirable to avoid".- For instance, the drying of gun cotton is a very hazardous operation and frequent fires and explosions have resulted in times past in the manufacture of explosives of various klIldS, especially in the drying of gun cotton for use 1n smokeless powders. Furthermore, the mix-- ing of dry gun cotton with dry oxygencarrylng salts, such as sodium or potasslum nitrates, involves a risk of ignition by fric-' I tion, which wouldalso produce disastrous plosives and do awa results; Also the induction of static electricit is of frequent occurrence in the hand ing of dry gun cotton and necessitates special precautions to prevent fire and explosion from this cause.

Accordingly, another object of the invention is to 1 rovide a process of maklng ex- 'plosives w ichwill overcome the difliculties above noted and permit the use of wet nitrocellulose that may .be delivered directly from the centrifugals or presses to be employed'directly in the manufacture of exwith the necessity of being previously drled to remove a relatively lar e percentage of water? A further obi'eet of the invention is to provide an exp osive by the use of a wet Specification of Letters IPatent.

Patented-Apr. 5,1921.

Application file'd May 6, 1918. Seria 1.No. 282,872.

. whichto detonation is not substantially affected by freezing. With these and other objects in view, the inventlon conslsts in the improved explosive and the process of making the same herelnafter described and claimed. articularly to the I While my invention is capable of embodiment 1n different forms, for the purpose of illustration I shall describe, only certain forms of my invention hereinafter.

The basis of the explosives of the present I invention comprises a wet gun cotton of a high degree of nitration, together with a llquid organic nitro compound. In the preferred form of my invention, a gun cotton of a high degree of nitration, such, for example, as gun cotton containing approximately 13% to 13.5 of nitrogen, and commonly referred-to among the trade. as highgrade, is mixed with liquid organic nitro compounds, or nitrates. By this mixture an explosive is obtained which 'detonates completely and easily with a comparatively small booster charge. Such composition may be used alone if desired, but I find it preferable to use in conjunction therewith oxygen-carrying salts, such as sodium, potassium. or barium nitrates.

In the commercial manufacture of gun cotton the moisture content of'the gun cotton may be reduced by the ordinary centrifugal or press to 25% to 35%. This wet gun cotton is then placed in a mixing machine and directly mixed with a l'iqu1d'or-.

anic nitro compound. In this mixtureis.

incorporated in a dry form about 30% of the oxygen-carrying salts. The mixture of the gun cotton and the liquid nitro compounds moistens the body 'of materials so that the final producthas an appearance Gun cotton of high nitration (containing 30% moisture) 50% Liquid nitro hydrocarbons 20% Sodium"nitrate i..a ..l 30% This composition might also be referred to by the following formula:

Water 15% Gun cotton of high nitration 35% Liquid nitro hydrocarbons 20% Sodium nitrate 30% This composition may, however, be varied to a considerable degree by adding the customary and ordinarlly used ingredients to give the explosive different strengths, velocities of detonation, densities, etc.

The liquid nitro hydrocarbon used in making the explosive is preferably made by the nitration of ordinary solvent naphtha, to which 10% of naphthalene has been added.- This nitrated product has, roughly, nitro xylenes, 10% nitro naphthalene, and the balance of the nitro compounds consist of the derivatives of the higher boiling oils of the benzene series.' The nitration of the solvent naphtha-naphthalene solution is carried out until the mixture has a nitrogen content of about 14%. This mixture corresponds to the dinitro and trinitro compounds of the oils originally present and the nitration is preferably carried on to such a point that there will be no mononitro compounds in the mixture, since the mononitro compounds tend to have a solvent and a colloiding action on the highly nitrated cellulose. To the nitrated solvent naphthanaphthalene solution may be added dinitrobenzol, dinitrotoluol and any of the liquid mixtures of isomeric trinitrotoluols. The dinitrotoluol, trinitrotoluol and dinitrobenzol may be added to the nitrated solution in practically any proportions, but the proportions are so controlled that the mixture will always be liquid, and also precaution is taken to avoid a mixture which will have a solvent or colloiding action on the highly nitrated cellulose.

Compositions made in accordance with my invention, as outlined above, are adapted, as explosives for bursting charges of submarine mines, trench mortar bombs, areoplane bombs, torpedoes and similar instruments of warfare where a booster charge of trinitrotoluene, tetryl, picric acid or a simi- .lar composition is used. These explosive compositions do not require as large a booster charge in order to insure complete detonation as do compositions or explosives ordinarily used for similar purposes, such as melted and solidified trinitrotoluene, icric acid, trinitroxylene and amatol. or example, Where melted and solidified trinitrotoluene, picric acid,ramatol and similar explosives, as used in torpedoes, aeroplane bombs, etc, require a booster charge of from 20 toiO grams of loose crystals, or crystals in a compressed state of trinitrotoluene, tetryl, or picric acid, compositions made in accordance with my invention may be com pletely detonated under similar conditions with a booster charge offrom 5 to 15 grams of trinitrotoluene, tetryl or picric acid. Due to the comparatively small booster charge required to produce complete detonation, the improved explosive composition is suitable for use in commercial blasting by providing a proper booster charge.

The explosives made in accordance with my invention are very insensitive to shock and can withstand the impact of a rifle bullet or a. one pound shot from a cannon without detonating. Further, the explosives can be safely compressed to ahigh density without danger of explosion, but when so compressed are still capable of bein detonated with a suitable booster c arge. Further, the improved explosives carry a considerable percentage of. water and are liable to freeze, but experiments have proved that the explosive qualities, such as ballistic strength, velocity of detonation, sensitiveness to' detonation, are not at all, or only slightly, affected by freezing. Also by the use of wet nitro-cellulose and -'the liquid nitro hydrocarbons the explosive may be given a wide range of density and have varying degrees of explosive strengths, according to the nature of the work for which the explosive is to be used.

In the following claims I use the term wet nitro-cellulose, and by this term is meant a nitro-cellulose containing from 15% to 35% moisture. The term nitrated or nitro hydrocarbon, as used in the claims, is intended to include nitroxylenes, nitronaphthalene, nitrotoluol, nitrobenzol, or other nitrated homologues of the benzene series, or a. mixture of two or more of these nitro derivatives which does not have a solvent action on the highly nitrated cellulose.

While I. have described my invention above in detail, I wish it to be understood that many changes may be )made therein without departing from the spirit of the in vention.

The preferred form of the invention having been thus described, what I claim as new is': Y

1. An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration and a liquid nitro derivative of a hydrocarbon.

2. An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration and a liquid nitro derivative of an aromatic hydrocarbon.

3. An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration and a nitroxylol.

4. An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration and a nitroxylol'mixed with another nitrated aromatic hydrocarbon.

5. An explosive composition comprising a wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration, a liquid organic nitrated compound and an oxygen-carrymg salt.

6. An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitratiqn, a nitroxylol and an oxygen-carrying sa t.

7. An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration, a liquid nitro hydrocarbon and sodium nitrate.

8. An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration, a nitroxylol and sodium nitrate.

9. An explosive composition comprising nitro-cellulose having a nitrogen content of from about 13 to 13.5% and a nitrated solvent naphtha.

10. An explosive composition comprising nitro-eellulose having a nitrogen content of from about 13 to 13.5%, a nitrated solvent naphtha and an oxygen-carrying salt.

11. An explosive composition comprising nitro-cellulose 'of a high degree of nitration, {titrated solvent naphtha and nitro naphthaene.

12. An explosive composition comprising nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration, nitrated solvent naphtha, nitro naphthalene and an oxygen-carrying salt.

13. An explosive composition comprising nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration, nitrated solvent naphtha,'nitro naphthalene and a liquid mixture of isomeric trinitrotoluols.

14. An explosive composition comprising nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration, nitrated solvent naphtha-napthalene mixture and a liquid mixture of isomeric trinitrotoluols.

15. An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration and nitrated aromatic hydrocarbons of a higher degree of nitration than the mono-nitro compounds.

16. An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration and a mixture of dinitro and trinitro compounds of aromatic hydrocarbons.

17 An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration, a mixture of dinitro and trinitro compounds of aromatic hydrocarbons and an oxygen-carrying salt.

18. An explosive composition comprising wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration and nitrated solvent naphtha.

19. An explosive composition comprising nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration and a mixture of nitrated solvent naphtha with 'a liquid mixture of isomeric trinitrotoluols.

20. An explosive composition comprising nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration, a mixture of nitrated solvent naphtha,

. comprising directly isomeric trinitrotoluol and an oxygen-caring salt.

21. A stable explosive composition capable of being detonated by less than a 15 gram charge of picric acidand containing wet nitrocellulose of a high degree of nitration and another organic nitro-compound.

22. A stable explosive composition .whose sensitiveness to detonation is not substantially affected by freezing, said composition containing nitrocellulose of a high degree of nitration, another organic compound, and water.

23. A stable explosive composition capable of withstanding the impact of a rifle bullet without detonation and containing wet nitrocellulose of a high degree of nitration and another organic nitro-compound.

24;. The process of making an explosive comprising directly mixing wet nitro-cellulose with a liquid nitro hydrocarbon and incorporating into the mixture a dry oxygencarrying salt to form a homogeneous composition.

25. The process of making an explosive mixing 50% of a wet nitro-cellulose of a high degree of nitration with 20% of a liquid nitro hydrocarbon, and incorporating into the mixture 30% of a dry oxygen-carrying salt, to form a homogeneous composition.

26. The process of making an explosive comprising directly mixing a wet nitrocellulose of a high degree of nitration with a liquid nitrated solvent naphtha-naphthalene mixture and incorporating dry sodium nitrate into the mixture, to form a homogeneous composition.

27. An explosive composition containing wet nitrocellulose of a high degree of nitration and a liquid organic nitrated compound.

28. An explosive composition containing wet nitrocellulose of a high degree of nitration and a mixture of liquid nitr ated hydrocarbons.

29. An explosive composition comprising substantially uncolloided wet nitrocellulose of a high degree .of nitration, a l1qu1d nitro hydrocarbon, and sodium nitrate.

30.'An explosive composition comprising substantially uncolloided wet nitrocellulose of a high degree of nitration, nitroxylol, and sodium nitrate.

31. An explosive composition comprising wet nitrocellulose having from about 13 to 13.5% of nitrogen, and another organic nitro compound.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand.

WENDELL R. SWINT.

En 0. RYAN. 

